GHMC proposes to improve roads

HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) proposes to take up comprehensive development of important arterial and sub-arterial roads in the city as per the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) standards including provision of side drains for disposal of storm water, ducts for carrying utilities for present and future expansion works of cables etc, so that they last for up to 20 years. Initially, the GHMC will prioritise major roads up to an extent of 150 to 200 km for phase-wise development, though the total road length of arterial and sub-arterial roads is about 800 to 1000 km excluding the National Highways and Roads and Buildings roads within its jurisdiction. GHMC Commissioner MT Krishna Babu in a letter to the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) sought the constitution of a technical committee for offering opinion on further implementation, detailed survey and evaluation of the DPRs submitted by consultants with expert comments and inputs for development of roads.Based on the request of the commissioner, MAUD issued orders constituting a technical committee consisting of four members. They include Engineer-in-Chief, GHMC as Convener, Chief Engineer (R&B), Chief Engineer-HMDA and Professor, Transportation Engineering from JNTU or NIIT as members.Speaking to City Express, GHMC officials said they have already appointed technical consultants for preliminary study of inventory and conditional survey for the major arterial and sub-arterial roads of more than three lane width and which are bus plying routes covering the bulk of traffic of the city.The consultants have completed and submitted prioritisation report for about 650-700 kms as part-A of the project. M/s Consulting Engineering Services (I) Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai was selected for preparation of comprehensive DPR along with BOQs for development of 52 prioritised roads in the five zones of GHMC for a length of 152.10 kms with consultancy charges amounting to `72 lakh.In the first phase, GHMC proposes to take up 10 major roads covering 27.50 km including the Raj Bhavan road,  Road No 10 and 12, Banjara Hills, Indira Park road, Liberty to Fever Hospital, Vidyanagar, R P Road, Tarnaka and Charminar to Falaknuma and others. These prioritised roads by and large cover all the five zones of the city.